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Ophthalmic technician salary

Open ophthalmic technician jobs post a median of $28.75 an hour, with the middle half paying $23–$33.25: about $59,800 a year full time. Measured from 131 jobs at 60 employers that state their pay, read from each employer's own job board.

$28.75
Median posted /hr
$23–$33
Middle half /hr
$59,800
A year, full time
estimate, 2,080 hours
$21.91
BLS median /hr
May 2025

The jobs themselves: Ophthalmic technician jobs

What ophthalmic technicians are paid

Each bar counts the open jobs posting an hourly rate in its step of pay (a range at its midpoint). The middle half of employers' rates is in the darker color.

Posted hourly rates of 131 open jobs. The chart spans the 2nd to the 98th percentile; the lowest rate posted is $15.15, the highest $61.63.

Posted on open jobs

$23–$33.25/hr

Middle half of 98 employer rates (each employer's advertised range once), median $28.75. 46% of the 287 open ophthalmic technician jobs state an hourly rate.

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Ophthalmic technician pay by employer

What each employer posts for ophthalmic technicians, the employers with the most jobs stating pay first. An employer with at least 5 such jobs has a page of its own with every range it posts.

EmployerMedian postedPosted rangeJobs stating pay
University of Rochester Medical Center$23.25$19.72–$38.1410
Kaiser Permanente$37.50$27.22–$61.639
UnitedHealth Group$28$16–$368
Refocus Eye Health$24$20–$338
UPMC$28.25$21.14–$35.137
Mass General Brigham$35.50$17.71–$42.836
HealthPartners$30$22.66–$50.584
Washington University in St. Louis$23.50$17.89–$29.934
Stanford Health Care$44.25$40.51–$47.203
Mount Sinai Health System$32.75$25.81–$37.213
VCU Health$29.50$23.18–$46.513
EyeSouth Partners$22$20–$263
Riverside Health$21.75$18.90–$24.603
Gundersen Health System$18$17.93–$20.313
Sutter Health$36$25.60–$48.232
Beth Israel Lahey Health$34.25$28.50–$40.282
UMass Memorial Health$30.50$21.19–$40.042
Westchester Medical Center Health Network$30.50$25.04–$36.092
Ohio State University Physicians$30.25$27.29–$33.132
Brown University Health$26.50$19.97–$32.962
UAB Medicine$26.25$17.10–$37.252
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center$25.75$22.79–$28.532
Panorama Eye Care$24.75$17–$39.682
Confluence Health$23.50$18.20–$29.042
Sanford Health$21.50$16.50–$26.502
UW Medicine$40.75$40.861
Scripps Health$39$31.81–$45.991
CommonSpirit Health$36.50$29.38–$43.701
Seattle Children's$36$27.17–$44.831
Providence$35.50$27.56–$43.341
Legacy Health$34.50$28.47–$40.711
Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$34.50$26.25–$42.921
Alameda Health System$34.25$30.38–$37.981
Boston Children's Hospital$32.75$25.11–$40.181
UChicago Medicine$32$29.57–$34.471
Advocate Health$30.25$24.10–$36.151
Mayo Clinic$30$24.55–$35.651
WhidbeyHealth$30$23.35–$36.661
GBMC HealthCare$29.50$21.91–$37.081
Emory Healthcare$29.25$29.331

Median of each employer's own jobs (a range at its midpoint), and the lowest and highest rate it posts. Jobs stating pay link to the employer's open jobs.

Ophthalmic technician pay by state

States where at least 8 open jobs from 3 employers state an hourly rate, highest median first. Each opens the state's own page, with its towns and employers.

StateMedian postedMiddle halfBLS medianJobs
California$39$30.75–$43$26.20 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)13
Washington$36$30–$37.50$23.48 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)11
Massachusetts$30.50$25.50–$32.75$23.92 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)18
New York$29.50$25.50–$32$23.29 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)18
Illinois$23.75$22–$29$22.64 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)9

Median and middle half of employers' rates in the state. BLS medians are for the occupation's main SOC code in the state (May 2025).

Best-paid open ophthalmic technician jobs

The open jobs posting the highest hourly rates tonight, at most two from one employer.

Every open job: Ophthalmic technician jobs

What BLS measures

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys what people employed in the occupation earn, at every level of experience. A posting advertises what a new hire is offered, so the two measure different things.

Hourly wages, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Each figure opens its BLS page.
BLS occupation10th pct25th pctMedian75th pct90th pctEmployed
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians (29-2057)$17.17 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)$18.35 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)$21.91 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)$24.71 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)$29.78 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)71,010 (source: BLS OEWS, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)

The posted median ($28.75) is $6.84 above the BLS median ($21.91 (source: BLS OEWS May 2025, Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, opens in a new tab)). Posted ranges run from a new hire's rate to an experienced one's, and their midpoint is counted here.

Ophthalmic technician salary: common questions

How much does an ophthalmic technician make an hour?

Open ophthalmic technician jobs on CareJobs.Now that state an hourly rate post a median of $28.75, with the middle half between $23–$33.25 (131 jobs from 60 employers, each employer's advertised range counted once). Postings advertise a base rate, usually before shift differentials and bonuses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measured a median of $21.91/hr ($45,570 a year) for ophthalmic medical technicians in May 2025.

How much does an ophthalmic technician make a year?

At the posted median of $28.75 an hour, full time (2,080 hours a year) comes to about $59,800, and the middle half to $47,800 to $69,200. That is arithmetic on the hourly rate, not a salary any job states.

Which states pay ophthalmic technicians the most?

By the median hourly rate open jobs post: California ($39), Washington ($36) and Massachusetts ($30.50). The lowest: Illinois ($23.75), New York ($29.50) and Massachusetts ($30.50). Each state's page breaks its pay down by town and employer.

Which employers pay ophthalmic technicians the most?

Among employers stating a rate on at least 5 open jobs: Kaiser Permanente ($37.50), Mass General Brigham ($35.50) and UPMC ($28.25). The employer table lists the 40 employers with the most jobs stating pay.

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay CareJobs.Now's open jobs state, read every night from each employer's own job board: 131 of 287 open ophthalmic technician jobs (46%) state an hourly rate. No pay is estimated for a job that states none, "up to" ceilings and weekly travel rates are left out, and each employer's advertised range counts once in the median, so no single employer sets it.

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Sources and method

Only pay a job states is used: a plain hourly or yearly figure or range in US dollars, read from the job's own posting. A range counts at its midpoint. In the median and the middle half each employer's advertised range counts once, so an employer posting one range in many towns does not set the figure; an employer's own figures count its jobs one by one. "Up to" ceilings, weekly travel rates and rates under a third or over three times the occupation's median are left out. The yearly estimate is the hourly rate times 2,080 hours (40 a week). A job counts under its occupation and every occupation above it, and under every state it is open in. A page exists while at least 8 jobs from 3 employers state a rate. BLS figures are as published.
  1. CareJobs.Now job board: the pay open jobs state, read nightly from each employer's own careers site, published October 24, 2026
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Ophthalmic Medical Technicians (SOC 29-2057), published May 15, 2026
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025: Ophthalmic Medical Technicians by state, published May 15, 2026
  4. BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035: Ophthalmic Medical Technicians, published August 27, 2026

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). Ophthalmic technician salary. Data as of October 24, 2026. https://carejobs.now/salaries/ophthalmic-technician

How the board counts